Chapter 34 Koa
Koa
The warehouse has that familiar stench, and I’m trying not to think about how many bodies have been dragged through here over the years. Vincent stands in the center like a king holding court, and I want to put my fist through his face.
But I can’t. Not yet. Not until I figure out how to get both Lexi and her brother out of this mess without getting us all killed.
Axel sits in my Charger outside like a fuse waiting to be lit.
He has no idea where I’ve brought him, and for one stupid na?ve moment, I didn’t realize what I’ve done by pulling up here with Kane blood.
I needed Vincent’s help with Lexi, but the second his eyes flick through the dashboard of my car, he knows who’s sitting in there.
Vincent snaps his fingers and two of his men move immediately toward the Charger.
“Bring the boy in,” Vincent orders.
Fuck.
I move to block them, but Vincent raises a hand. “Now, Koa. Don’t make this difficult.”
The men open the car door and yank Axel out, his eyes widening as he takes in the warehouse, the armed men, the whole fucked-up situation. They grab his arms when he tries to pull away, forcing him forward.
“What the hell?” Axel’s voice cracks, fear bleeding through the confusion. “Koa, what’s going on?”
I don’t answer. Anything I say right now will only make this worse.
They drag him inside and Vincent’s face transforms—genuine pleasure, like he’s been waiting for this moment. He claps, the sound echoing off the concrete walls.
“Yes! Yes!” Vincent spreads his arms like he’s proud of me, but I know better. “Now where’s the sister?”
Axel goes rigid. His eyes snap to Vincent, then to me, and I watch the realization dawn across his face. The betrayal. The understanding that this was never a rescue.
“My sister?” Axel spits, and there’s a rawness to his voice that makes something twist in my gut. “You set us up?”
Vincent laughs and moves closer to Axel. “Oh, my boy. Do I have a lot to catch you up on. But the deal is the girl needs to be here too.”
“Deal?” Axel struggles against the men holding him. “What fucking deal?”
My phone buzzes in my pocket. Once. Twice. Three times. I turn my back on the scene, bringing it to my ear.
“Koa. There’s movement.” It’s one of my scouts. His voice is tight, urgent. “One of my guys followed the Reapers. They went to a cabin.”
“A cabin?” My mind races. Why would they take her to a cabin? What are they planning?
“And then a Reaper drove to the rehab.”
I start chuckling, low and dark. They’re scrambling. Desperate. Which means they don’t have the leverage they thought they did. “Where are they now?”
“The cabin.”
“Do you see a girl with them?”
There’s a pause. “No.”
“Call me if anything changes.”
I end the call and turn back to the chaos.
Vincent’s men have forced Axel into a metal chair, the kind with a straight back and no arms. He’s fighting them and I realize with a jolt that he’s clearheaded now.
No drugs clouding his judgment, no fog making him compliant.
He’s bright-eyed and furious, and all that pent-up anger jaded from drug use is finally at the forefront. Interesting.
“Get the fuck off me,” Axel snarls as they produce zip ties. “Where’s my sister? What did you do to her?”
Oh, how the tables have turned. The junkie brother who couldn’t protect anyone is suddenly desperate to save the sister who’s been cleaning up his messes. It would be touching if it wasn’t so fucking tragic.
They secure his wrists to the chair, then his ankles. Axel’s breathing hard, his eyes wild, and when he looks at me there’s nothing but hatred there.
“You’re working for him,” he says, and it’s not a question. “You’ve been working for him this whole time.”
I don’t respond. What’s the point? He’s right.
Ten minutes crawl by. Vincent circles Axel like a shark, talking about debts and obligations and family loyalty, and I tune it out. I’ve heard this speech before. I’ve lived this speech.
My phone rings again.
“Movement again. They left the cabin.”
“Where?”
“We don’t know yet. Still following.”
I turn to Oxy, who’s been silent this whole time, watching everything with those calculating eyes. “We gotta go.”
Vincent nods, magnanimous now that he has what he wants. “Keep me updated, Koa. And remember—I need both of them.”
We leave Axel tied to that chair, his shouts following us out into the gray morning.
The third call comes when we’re halfway across town.
“They’re driving to campus.”
Campus. They’re taking her back to campus.
What. The. Fuck?
Oh.
Unless…they’re playing the long game. Let her go, let her think she’s safe, wait for her to lead them to something. Or someone.
I press down on the accelerator, weaving through traffic. Oxy braces himself with the overhead oh-shit bar but doesn’t say anything. He knows better than to question me when I’m like this.
We reach campus just as a black Mercedes sedan pulls into the liberal arts parking lot. I kill the engine two rows back, far enough that they won’t notice but close enough that I can see everything.
And then she steps out.
Lexi.
Fuck.
She’s radiant—that’s the only word for it. Her dark hair catches the sunlight, her face is flushed, and she’s smiling. Actually smiling, like she didn’t just spend the last day and a half held by the Reapers. Like everything is fine and normal and good.
What the fucking fuck?
I watch her saunter off as happy as can be. And then one of them—the fucking left wing entitled fucker, Revan—gets out and walks right up to her.
My hands tighten on the steering wheel as I stare.
He cups her face. Leans down. Kisses her.
Rage explodes through me like a bomb going off. Red-hot, all-consuming rage that makes my vision tunnel and my pulse thunder in my ears. She’s kissing him back. Her hands are on his chest.
She’s…
Fucking…
Kissing…
Him…
Back…
“What the fuck?” Oxy breathes beside me.
I can’t speak. Can’t think past the fury coating my throat.
She pulls away, blushing, and then he gets her number. I can see her inputting it into his phone, can see the way she smiles at him.
Then she walks off toward the dorms, and it takes everything in me not to jump out of this car and drag her back.
“Let her go,” Oxy says, and his hand is on my arm, holding me in place. “Let’s follow these fucking Reapers.”
I nod because I can’t trust myself to speak. My phone is buzzing again—probably with another update—but I ignore it. I don’t need a scout to tell me what I can see with my own eyes.
The Mercedes pulls out and I follow. Not subtle about it. I want them to know I’m here, want them to understand that they fucked up. They fucked up so bad.
They’re heading east, away from campus, toward the industrial district. When the road opens up, I close the distance between us. The sedan speeds up and I match them, staying right on their bumper.
They pull over on a stretch of empty road bracketed by warehouses, and I’m throwing my car into park before they’ve even stopped moving.
I’m out and stalking toward them, ready to pound his fist into his fucking face.
Revan steps out, his face already set for confrontation, and I don’t give him a chance to speak.
I just blast him.
My fist connects with his jaw and the impact sends pain shooting up my arm, but I don’t care. All I can see is his lips on hers, his hands on her face, the way she smiled at him.
He staggers back, recovers, and comes at me swinging.
We crash together, but I’m stronger. He’s not winning this one.
He gets in a hit to my ribs that makes something crack, but I’ve learned how to block out pain.
Years of my stepfather’s shit taught me that lesson well—how to take a beating and keep standing, how to let the rage override everything else.
I drive my elbow into his face and feel his nose crunch.
He sweeps my legs and I go down hard, concrete scraping my palms. But I roll, come up swinging, catch him in the kidney.
“You fucking—” He doesn’t finish the sentence, just tackles me.
I could fight this motherfucker all day, and guess what? I have all day. I throw my fists, satisfied when they connect. His punches burn my bruised body, but it doesn’t stop me, it gives me more satisfaction when he tries to hurt me back and fucking fails.
Atticus and Oxy are shouting something from the sidelines but it’s white noise. All that exists is my fist connecting over and over. All I see red.
Then Revan flanks me in the ribs, a sick bastard move. He knew I’d back off. I stand to my feet and stop myself from doing any more damage. I don’t need this pretty boy here to come back at me harder.
We separate, both of us breathing hard. Blood drips from his nose, and I can taste copper in my mouth. My ribs are screaming and I’m pretty sure my left eye is already swelling shut.
“Vincent’s going to hear about this,” Revan says, spitting blood onto the ground.
Fucking rat.
“I’ll just kick your ass again,” I shoot back.
I turn toward my car because if I don’t leave right now, I’m going to kill him.
“I fucked her.”
I freeze. My blood stills when I hear the smile in his voice.
“Atticus and I took turns on that pretty cunt,” Revan continues, his voice sadistic. “Watched her scream my name.”
Something inside me shatters. I grab a rock from the ground—jagged, heavy—and storm back toward him.
Oxy intercepts me, his arms wrapping around my chest. “Not worth it, man. Fuck him. Come on.”
Revan pulls out a Glock, the metal gleaming in the afternoon light. He points it at me with steady hands. “Listen to your friend, Koa.”
I walk forward anyway because I’m too far gone to care about a gun.
“Fuck you! I’d like to see you fucking try.
” I stop in front of him, glancing at the gun.
“I suggest you run back to your prestigious fucking university, Revan. You’re on the wrong side of town.
” I lean in close enough to see the fear flicker in his eyes.
“And if you so much as touch Lexi again, I’ll make sure that thing is aimed at your face, not mine. ”
I glance down at the gun and laugh.
Oxy drags me backward, practically throwing me into the Charger. I peel out, leaving them standing there in a cloud of dust.
By the time we get back to campus, rage is still coiled in my body. Seeing her kiss him––
“Let’s stay the fuck away from Lexi until you cool down,” Oxy states.
“I’m cool,” I say through gritted teeth. “I’m fucking cool, man. What you did back there wasn’t fucking cool though.”
He shakes his head. “Some stupid bullshit, Koa. Now I’m the bad guy for stopping you two idiots from going at it? Have you seen yourself, Koa? You’re fucked up.”
I glance at the rearview mirror and see what he means.
Days of back-to-back fighting, and I looked fucked up.
Vincent’s marks, falling off the hood of a car, and now the fight with Revan.
My face is swollen purple and yellow, blood smeared across with a bloodshot eye.
My knuckles are raw and probably broken in at least two places.
I shrug. “So what?”
“Go to your classes like it’s a normal fucking day,” Oxy says, opening his door. “They let her go.”
He’s about to step out when I say, “Do you know why they let her go?”
He pauses, looking back at me.
“Because they know she’ll go straight to her brother, straight to Vincent.”
He gets back in and shuts the door, studying my face. “You’re always one step ahead.”
“I have to be the one to take her there,” I say quietly. “It has to be me.”
“You—” He stops, processing. “Are we kidnapping her?”
“We?” I look at him hard. “No, this isn’t your battle, Maddox. You don’t want to get involved in this bullshit.”
“So what then?”
“I’ll let her have her normal day. Let her think it’s all fine.” My jaw clenches. “Then tonight when she’s asleep.”
Oxy nods slowly. He reaches over and pats my chest, the gesture grounding. “Let’s get to class, big guy.”
He leaves, and I sit in the silence of my car, staring at the dorms where I know she’ll be.
My phone rings.
Vincent’s name flashes on the screen.
I stare at it, letting it ring once, twice, three times. On the fourth ring, I answer.
“Yeah?”
“Time is ticking, Koa.”
The line goes dead.
I lean my head back against the seat and close my eyes.
Just give her a normal fucking day. Tonight. I’ll do it tonight.
Even if it destroys whatever fucked-up thing we have between us, even if she never forgives me, even if it breaks something in me that can’t be fixed.
I have to be the one to take her to Vincent.
Because if I don’t, Vincent will send someone who won’t care about keeping her safe.
And I can’t let that happen.
Even if it costs me everything.